Father's Day or 1-2-3-4- Nap

Had a couple of late nights and early mornings this weekend, so a nap Sunday afternoon was good. Funny thing was that three other people in the house were also napping (hence the 1-2-3-4). The wife had the nerve of accusing me of snoring on Father's Day. Hmmmmph!

But she made up for it by getting me a digital camera (of course the hints two weeks ago helped). Now this blog will have more pics. Here are some I took today.

Last year some one gave me a 12-inch square brick of Joe Pye Weed. I cut the brick (with a hatchet) into four squares. I planted two of them next to the mailbox. This year, its looking great.

The Tiger Lillies are in full bloom this week, although last year they were about a foot taller (I swear). In this bed I planted a $3.99 Magnolia that's only 15" tall. It's in there and seems to be doing well. Yes I know it won't be seen for a couple of years.

It was in this bunch of tigers that I first spotted the rabbit this year and the following day I noticed that he had eaten some of the painted daisies.

Saturday afternoon I emptied 0.35" from the rain gauge (remember it started raining when I was planting marigolds). Sunday morning I emptied another 0.2".

Notes for April 27, 2009

Busy weekend with beautiful weather. Its been in the 80s and near 90 since Friday and will be again today and tomorrow. And yes we broke down last night and turned on the AC (IN APRIL!).

Friday night I cut the grass to get a head start on Saturday. Saturday, after the usual running around (dropping off and picking up my daughter and picking up hoagies from the local church hoagie sale), I finally did get to work in the yard. First thing I did was to plant the flower bulbs we got for Easter (hyacinths and tulips). I planted them with a handful of ground up leaves and a tablespoon of bone meal.

Then I mulched up the six bags of leaves that my neighbor gave me. I dumped them out of the bags and ran them over with the mower.

Next I played with a toy I got for Christmas and finally took out the new weed wacker out of the box and started that learning process.

Then I put some block edging in a circle around my mailbox post where the Joe Pye Weed is. I put the rest of the edging around some tiger lillies in the back yard but I didn't dig them in yet. Next I straightened out the pile of remaining edging and old bricks (to be placed in the trash a few at a time; just after the used mortar pieces are gone).

I water the radish and spinach (which are starting to sprout) and the onions. I then mulched the onions.

I then sifted the bag and a half of potting mix (using a dollar store wastebasket). There were just too many large pieces in the mix. I put the large pieces in the flower bed as mulch.

Notes for July 2, 2008

Here is some Joe Pye Weed. The woman I get a bunch of my perennials from gave it to me for free when I asked about it. When she dug it up it came out like a brick, an 8-inch thick brick and a foot and a half square. Had to use a hatchet and cut it into four squares. Planted two of them next to the mailbox. Noticed this morning that some bug has been eating it.

Notes for May 8, 2008

It's raining this morning and that's good. We never really got the "April Showers" so we are a bit dryer than we should be at this time of year. Hopefully we'll get the one to two inches forecasted for tomorrow.

My Iris are starting to bloom as well as some of the columbine I planted this year. I got a clump of Joe Pye Weed from some one and split it up into four pieces. Two of those pieces have sprouted. I bought two Yarrow plants and they have started to grow.

My tomato and pepper plants that I started indoors under the lights are looking great and I am going to move them outside soon and hopefully have them planted before Memorial Day. I figured out the secret quite by accident last year. The grow light must be as close as possible to the seedlings or they grow long and spindly and its ok for the light to touch the plants.

The daffodils I transplanted along my fence lines last year did look great this spring when the were in bloom. The stalks are still there, I haven't mowed them down yet. When they start to die off I will cut them down. I planted this years Easter flower bulbs each with a couple of teaspoons of bulb tone and hopefully they will respond by lasting longer. I have been giving my holly trees some Holly Tone in the spring and fall and the smallest looks most appreciative.

The grass seed I put down in February looks nice but looks like its needs some rain to survive. The grass seed I put down at the end of March is struggling (lack of "April showers").